FIELD NOTES TALKS PLANTING WITH IOWA FARMER

APRIL 2017

Share

(Posted Thu. Apr 13th, 2017)

This week, the National Corn Growers Association kicked off its seventh season of Field Notes, a series that takes readers behind the farm gate to follow the year in the life of American farm families. While these growers come from diverse geographic areas and run unique operations, they share a common love for U.S. agriculture and the basic values that underpin life in farming communities.

This week, Field Notes caught up with April Hemmes, who farms in northern Iowa.

Like many farmers, she is waiting for drier, sunnier weather.

“The neighbors who are always in the field first, they are in the field. We drove 90 miles into Des Moines, and we saw some of the people we know are always out first in their fields,” said Hemmes. “Many of us are getting a slower start. I just started tooling around with my planter today.”

Hemmes also finds herself answering one question repeatedly, “what do you plan to plant in 2017?”

“I wish I had a dime for every time that I have been asked that this year,” she explained. “I made my planting decisions back in November, and I have stuck to them. It is what works for my ground and my rotation. I am not switching the percentage of acres that I plant into corn and soy.”